


Through the window.

by NeverBeenSane



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Professor!Hermann, Tattoo artist!Newt, Tumblr Prompt, minor mention of a car accident, shifting pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 10:19:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1684799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverBeenSane/pseuds/NeverBeenSane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newt gets a little drunk and climbs through the wrong window. Hermann wonders why he didn't get a dog instead of two apparently useless cats.</p><p>Missed chances, pining penpals, tequila shots, mistaken addresses, half-naked tattoo artists, and a little bit of other-worldly luck make for an interesting tale for the future grandkids.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through the window.

**Author's Note:**

> Jumping on the bandwagon of writing a fic for the prompt: "i really want an “i accidentally broke into your house/apartment because my friend lives next door to you and i was in the area, drunk, and i thought i was climbing into the right window and falling asleep on the right couch (and i did wonder when my friend got two cats but i didn’t question it) so now i’m hungover and shirtless in your living room so um hi howya doin” au" (http://tickatocka.tumblr.com/post/85456038831)
> 
> First time writing a Pacific Rim fic and my first time writing a Newmann fic.
> 
> Some German is used, translations will be in the end notes in case the hover method doesn't work.

     Newton Geizler sighed softly as he shuffled down the sidewalk in the vague direction of the house of his best friend, Tendo Choi. He swayed slightly on his feet and wondered, not for the first time, why he let himself get talked into trying to out-drink a couple of Russians. _That last shot of tequila was a bad idea,_ he thought to himself as he continued to lumbar down the street. Newt wondered why he thought it would be a good idea to go get plastered with his co-workers on a Friday night; though, they were celebrating the fact that Mako had made it out of her apprenticeship and was now a full member of the team so he didn't really have much of an option. Her adoptive father had even stopped by for a few minutes at the beginning of the night to congratulate her before he had to head out himself.  
  
     Opening the gate to Tendo's house, he shuffled drunkenly up the porch stairs; only tripping once and miraculously managing to not faceplant after doing so. Frowning, he patted his pockets only to remember that Herc had taken his keys from him at the bar when he had arrived. Grumbling under his breath about stupid over-protective Aussie friends, Newt stumbled down the steps and made his way to the side of the house. Sliding the side window to the living room up, he hoisted himself up and clamored through as silently as he could. After shutting the window and making sure it was latched, he shuffled over to the couch and flopped down. Somewhere in his tequila hazed mind, he vaguely noted that Tendo must've finally gotten a new couch since this one was much nicer than the old one. Pulling off his glasses, he folded them up and set them on the coffee table before untying his Doc Martens and pulling them off.  
  
     As he was setting his boots at the foot of the couch, a huge grey cat wandered around the corner and sniffed his hand curiously. Frowning when its giant fluffy head nudged his hand, he racked his brain for what type of cat he was currently petting. After a moment, his brain finally supplied Maine Coon. He glanced up as another Maine Coon cat, ginger this time, padded over and nudged the grey one away from his hand to get his own pets. Smiling tiredly, he scratched behind the ginger's ear before he pulled away so he could pull his jacket off. Both the ginger and grey cat meowed plaintively at him as he slipped the arms of his jacket off. He quickly shushed them and whispered, "I'll pet you in a minute. Let me get comfortable."  
  
     The two cats seemed to be content with this plan and, after bundling up his jacket to use as a makeshift pillow, he contemplated for a moment if he should strip down to his boxers to be more comfortable. Ultimately he decided that he didn't actually want to scar Tendo when the other man wandered into the living room the next morning so, with a silent yawn, he stripped out of his shirt and dropped it on top of his shoes. Falling onto his side, he wiggled around on the couch until he was comfy and smiled sleepily as Ginger and Grey hopped up on the couch with him. Ginger curled up behind his legs while Grey walked up him to lay beside his head. Huffing softly, Newt buried his face into his jacket and made a mental note to ask Tendo in the morning when the hell he'd gotten two cats.

 

     The last thing Hermann Gottlieb expected when he walked into his living room late Saturday morning was to find a man sound asleep and snoring softly on his couch. Rubbing his eyes with his free hand, he looked back at his couch to make sure that he wasn't imagining it before scowling at Bertie and Jeeves; both of whom were currently curled up on the half-naked stranger. _I should've taken Karla's advice and gotten a dog. At least it would've alerted me to an intruder._ Hermann thought caustically as he glared at his cats; both of whom merely looked at him as if he were rather dim.  
  
     Sighing aggravatedly, he limped across the room and stopped just out of the reach of the man's arm. He gave the man a quick once over to try to assess if he was a threat but found himself more distracted by the colorful tattoos of fictional monsters that covered nearly all of his upper body and dipped below the line of his jeans. _I wonder how far it goes down..._ he thought, only to shake his head a moment later and scowl at himself. Obviously it had been far too long since he'd had any sort of...intimate contact with another person if he was thinking about that sort of thing in regards to a stranger who was passed out on his couch. The only thing that was important in this moment was to figure out who the stranger was and why on Earth he was sleeping on his couch.  
  
     Shifting his weight to his good leg, Hermann used his cane to poke the sleeping man's back but it only made the man grumble softly in his sleep. Bertie, apparently getting the idea that Hermann wanted the man awake, hopped up and swatted the sleeping man across the face a couple times. Had Hermann been friends with the mystery man, he probably would have laughed at the sight of him swatting back at Bertie lazily as he let out a pained groan. As it were, he did not, to his current knowledge, know this man and was determined to wake him up in order to get answers. Clearing his throat, he poked the man with his cane again and said, "Who the hell are you and what the bloody hell are you doing on my sofa?"  
  
     The man rolled over onto his back and blinked blearily at him. Herman raised an eyebrow at him and made a 'well start explaining' motion with his hand. Frowning in confusion, the inked man squinted at him as though he couldn't see very well and said, in a confused voice that should not be that endearing, "You're not Tendo."  
  
     "Obviously not." Hermann said, rolling his eyes. Of course one of Tendo's friends would mistake his house for the IT tech's. Only instead of a simple late night pounding on the door, this guy had decided to simply break into his house.  
  
     "Fuck, I'm in the wrong house, aren't I?" He said, sitting up and reaching for a pair of thick glasses that were lying on the coffee table.  
  
     Hermann absently noted the guy's chest tattoos before he said, "Yes. Would you care to explain how you even got in?"  
  
     "The window was unlocked." He said, keeping his eyes shut and motioning across the room with a flail. After a brief moment of silence, he looked up at Hermann and said, "I'm sorry, dude, I uh. Fuck, this is so fucking embarrassed I got a little...ok a lot plastered last night and I'm really fucking hungover and maybe still a little drunk since I have no idea how long I slept. I was just trying to make it to Tendo's but I guess I misjudged how far I'd gone and...and fuck I broke in to your house. Shit. I thought the sofa was different and Tendo didn't mention getting two huge ass cats recently. I'm so sorry."  
  
     "Tendo Choi? Is that who you were trying to reach?" Hermann asked, feeling inexplicably merciful at the sight of the other man's distress.  
  
     "Yeah, you know him?" The man asked, looking up at Hermann with unfocused and red-rimmed eyes.  
  
     "He's my next door neighbor." Hermann said, glancing at Jeeves as he wound his way behind the stranger.  _And we work together but that's hardly relevant,_  Hermann thought to himself.  
  
     "Aw fucking hell." The man said, dropping his head in his hands.  
  
     "I'll call him to come collect you since you are obviously in no condition to go anywhere on your own." Hermann said, picking up the cordless phone and dialing Tendo's cellphone number as he limped towards the kitchen. Without looking over his shoulder, he called, "Just get dressed and come sit at the table until he gets here." Pressing the call button, he moved the phone to his ear and glanced back to see the inked man slipping his shirt back on and shoving his feet into his shoes without bothering to tie them.  
  
     "Hey, Hermann, what's up?" Tendo said, drawing Hermann's attention away from the other man.  
  
     "There's currently a man sitting on my sofa who claims he's a friend of your's." Hermann said, flicking on his coffee pot.  
  
     "Does he have a shit ton of tattoos?" Tendo asked, sighing softly.  
  
     "Yes. Kaiju I believe." Hermann stated, glancing back to see Tendo's friend slowly slip on his jacket and pet Bertie when the ginger cat had crawled into his lap.  
  
     "Aw fucking hell. I wondered where he'd gotten to when I didn't find him on the sofa this morning. I'll be right over, he didn't destroy anything did he?"  
  
     "Surprisingly enough, no. It appears he just crawled through the window and passed out on my sofa thinking that it was your house." Hermann said, still watching the other man as Jeeves climbed onto his shoulder and curled himself around his neck. Shaking his head and turning his attention back to making himself breakfast, he absently commented, "My cats appear to have taken a liking to him." The muesli he'd made last week and yogurt sounded like a good enough plan since he didn't really feel like cooking at that moment.  
  
     "Your cats are weird." Tendo said and Hermann could almost hear the other man roll his eyes. After a beat, he asked, "Did you ever find your biologist? You never did tell me."  
  
     "He is not my biologist, Mr. Choi." Hermann snapped, rolling his eyes and pulling out the airtight container that he'd stored his muesli in out of the cabinet and setting it down harder than he'd intended on the counter. Sighing as Tendo chuckled, Hermann added, in a calmer tone, "As for your question, it appears that he left academia shortly after we lost contact and I have not been able to find any trace of him on social media sites."  
  
     "I'm sure you'll find him eventually. I mean, there can't be that many geniuses out there who obtained six doctorates by the time they were twenty-five. Even if he's not in academia any more, he may still be publishing."  
  
     Herman glanced up when he heard footsteps and saw Tendo's friend swaying slightly in the doorway. Rolling his eyes, he motioned for the man to take a seat at the kitchen table and got him a glass of water. Hermann couldn't find it in himself to be angry at the inked man; which bothered him less than it should have. He didn't think it was normal for someone to be so nonchalant about finding a stranger on their sofa but the other man seemed familiar and was entirely harmless in his current state. Once the man had shot him a kind smile and murmured a soft thank you, Hermann turned his attention back to Tendo and said, "As true as that may be, Tendo, I still do not know what I would do if I ever did find him again. It's been nearly a decade and now that my leg and hip..." Trailing off, Hermann sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Hermann could feel the tattooed man watching him curiously but he couldn't find it in himself to care.  
  
     "Dude, you let me read some of those letters, I'm sure your guy isn't going to give one single shit about the fact that your leg and hip got fucked up in an accident. Which is incidentally the only reason you missed the conference where you were supposed to meet up with him and exchange new addresses. Also, I'm on your porch."  
  
     "You know where the hide-a-key is." Hermann said, ending the call and setting the phone down. Grabbing the container of yogurt out of the fridge, he set it on the counter and glanced up as Tendo waltzed into the kitchen.  
  
     "You, good sir, are a dumbass." Tendo said, smacking the man seated at his kitchen table upside the head.  
  
     "Ow, Verdammte Scheiße, du Arschloch(1). I have a fucking migraine, Tendo." The man said, glaring at Tendo and rubbing the back of his head miserably. Hermann smirked slightly as he made his breakfast and cleared away the components before settling into his normal seat at the kitchen table; which happened to be across from Tendo's friend.  
  
     "And whose fault is that?" Tendo asked, rolling his eyes.  
  
     "The Russians." He muttered, rubbing his face.  
  
     "Damnit man, just because you're German does not mean you can outdrink those two." Tendo said, scowling.  
  
     "At least I didn't get alcohol poisoning this time."  
  
     "No you just crawled through poor Hermann's window and probably scared the crap out of him this morning. Especially if you stripped down to your skivvies like you do when you drunkenly crash out at my place." Tendo said, moving over to the coffee maker once it dinged and making Hermann a cup of coffee just the way the other man liked it. Once he was done, he walked over to the table and, setting the mug down in front of Hermann, settled into the seat between his two friends. The man groaned and let his head thunk against the table, muttering a string of curses in German that made Hermann raise an eyebrow at him.  
  
      "He was merely shirtless, Tendo." Hermann said, shrugging a shoulder and taking a sip of his coffee. Glancing up at the tattooed man, he added, "It was a bit of a shock but certainly not the most traumatizing thing that has happened since I've known you."  
  
      "No, that would be the blind date with Vanessa." Tendo said, rubbing his face.  
  
      The man snorted softly and, lifting his head from the table, said, "I remember hearing about that. I'm so sorry you got saddled with that one, dude."  
  
      Hermann rolled his eyes and, looking at Tendo, said, "Glad to know my dismal attempts at dating are a talking point between yourself and your friends."  
  
      "You're the one in love with a guy you haven't spoken to in over a decade." Tendo muttered rubbing a hand across his face.  
  
      "I'm still too drunk to deal with other people's unrequited love and sob stories about missed chances." The tattooed man said, laying his head back on the table. Hermann frowned slightly at the top of his head and wondered what he meant by that.  
  
      Hermann's unasked question was answered when Tendo snorted and said, "That's just because you need to be smashed before you deal with your own unrequited love and start waxing poetic about mathematicians who give you brain boners."  
  
     "Verpiss dich. Ich hasse dich(2)." He murmured, flipping Tendo off.  
  
     Rolling his eyes at Tendo's confused look, Hermann said, "Herr Choi versteht kein Deutsch also ist es nutzlos ihn zu beschimpfen(3)."  
  
     "Es hilft mir mich besser zu fühlen(4)."  
  
     "I hate you both right now." Tendo said, shaking his head.  
  
     "How do you know German?" Tendo's friend asked, looking at him with clear curiosity and quite a bit of confusion.  
  
     "I was born in Southern Germany and lived there until I went to University. And you?"  
  
     "Born in Berlin, my father and I moved to the States when I was a teenager." He muttered, downing some more of the water Hermann had given him.  
  
     "You'll want to drink at least another bottle of water before you go back to sleep." Hermann said, turning his attention back to his breakfast and digging back in.  
  
     "Will do, man." He said, downing the rest of his water.  
  
     "C'mon, man, let's get out of Hermann's hair." Tendo said, clapping Hermann on the shoulder.  
  
     "Alrighty." He said, standing up and rinsing out his glass before setting it in the dish washer. Tendo chuckled softly and shook his head as he stood up from his seat.    
  
     Hermann watched him as Bertie and Jeeves wound their way around his feet and meowed up at Tendo's friend. It was rare that the two would actually approve of someone; it had taken Tendo nearly a month for them to stop hissing at him whenever he walked in the door.  
  
     Chuckling softly and crouching down, he scratched behind their ears and said, "Sorry guys, I don't think your dad really appreciates me being here but thanks for curling up with me."  
  
     Hermann smiled slightly as the other man straightened back up. Clearing his throat, he said, "I would say that it was a pleasure meeting you, but-"  
  
    "You don't want to be a liar, yeah." The guy said, laughing and rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm still really sorry about all this."  
  
    "It's quite alright. Just be glad it was my window you climbed through and not Mr. Chau's." Herman said, sharing a knowing look with Tendo.  
  
    "Oh god, he would've taken his head off and then sold his organs on the black market." Tendo said, shaking his head and steering his friend towards the door. They were almost out the door when Tendo called over his shoulder, "I'll see you at work on Monday, Hermann."  
  
     Hermann grunted non-committedly and wondered, not for the first time this morning, why the inked man seemed so familiar to him as he finished his breakfast.

 

     Newton groaned softly as Tendo set him down on his couch. Taking off his glasses, he looked up at the other man; who was studying him curiously. Frowning, Newt said, "What? Do I have something on my face?"  
  
     "No."  
  
     "Then why are you staring at me?"  
  
     "Because I'm trying to figure something out."  
  
     "Dude, Tendo, I'm already really hungover; don't pull this cryptic bullshit."  
  
     "You were a biologist before you left academia for the tattoo world, right?"  
  
     "That was one of the PhD's yeah, why?" Newt asked, rubbing his eyes.  
  
     "And you were head over heels for a German mathematician who lived in England." Tendo said, walking back into the living room with a bottle of water.  
  
     "And then said mathematician never showed up to the convention in Stockholm that we'd been planning on meeting up at for months beforehand." Newt muttered, grabbing the bottle of water from Tendo.  
  
     "What was the mathematician’s name?"  
  
     Newt sighed and closed his eyes. Tendo had been trying to get a name out of him for almost as long as they'd known each other. Maybe it was the headache, maybe it was him just not caring anymore, but something made him shrug and respond, "Doctor Hermann Gottlieb. Why?"  
  
     "You may have crawled through your mathematician’s window...I mean, he never told me his biologist's name so I can't be sure but...yeah"  
  
     "No fucking way." Newt said, looking over at Tendo who merely shrugged. Groaning, Newt tilted his head back and said, "I...but....but I was an idiot! That was not the first impression I wanted to make on him."  
  
     "Like you would've done any better a decade ago."  
  
     "Dude, at least back then I didn't have the majority of my body covered in fucking tats and I wasn't as much of a complete spaz and I didn't break into people's houses while smashed out of my mind thinking it was someone else's house."  
  
     "Finish your water and get some sleep, Newt. We'll figure it out later." Tendo said, rolling his eyes and ruffling Newt's hair. Newt grumbled softly but merely continued to sip his water.

 

     Monday afternoon, Hermann was surprised to see Tendo waiting outside his office. Frowning, he raised an eyebrow at the other man and asked, "Can I help you?"  
"Lunch down at the pub on 14th?"  
  
     "I don't see why not." Hermann said, shrugging a shoulder as he opened the door to his office and set his briefcase down. It wasn't unusual for Tendo to show up randomly and request that they had lunch together but he hadn't done it in a few weeks. After making sure his wallet and keys were in the pocket of his blazer, he locked up his office and followed Tendo out to his car. Hermann watched Tendo out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't normal for him to be this quiet on their shared luncheons.  
  
     Tendo didn't speak until they'd seated themselves in a back corner of the pub and had already placed their orders. Rubbing a hand over his mouth, Tendo merely looked at Hermann as the other man raised an eyebrow and shot him a questioning look. Clearing his throat, Tendo said, "Please for the sake of my sanity tell me this name means something to you." At Hermann's raised eyebrow, he continued, "Newton Geizler."  
  
     Hermann stared at Tendo for a moment. Blinking slowly, he said, "Newton Geizler is the name of the biologist." Tendo sagged in relief and chuckled softly as Hermann merely stared at him in confusion. Frowning, Hermann said, "I don't see what's so amusing, Tendo."  
  
     "The guy you found in your living room Saturday morning is your biologist." Tendo said, smiling slightly.  
  
     Hermann merely blinked before he said, "You're not kidding."  
  
     "No. I had my suspicions before Saturday but....He finally confirmed what I've thought for months and have been trying to get out of him for even longer." Tendo said, glancing up with the waitress set down their drinks before disappearing again.  
  
     Hermann took a long sip of his drink and considered what Tendo had told him. It would be probably the oddest way to meet Newton in the history of meeting penpals but he had to say that it didn't exactly surprise him that neither he nor Newton could actually meet like normal people. Looking up at Tendo, he said, "I can't say I'm surprised that we'd meet that way. I only wished I knew who he was when I woke him up."  
  
     "And the tats?"  
  
     "I knew Newton was obsessed with kaiju. He spoke often of getting tattoos commemorating them." Hermann said, waving a hand as though he were shooing away a particularly annoying fly.  
  
     "How long did the two of you exchange letters?"  
  
     "Hmm, I believe I was 16 when he sent the first one and I sent the last one when I was 27 so a little over a decade."  
  
     "That's quite a long time. How many letters did you two exchange?"  
  
     "A letter or two a week depending upon the speed of the post that month." Hermann said, smiling slightly.  
  
     "For over a decade."  
  
     "Yes." Hermann said, glancing up as the waitress set down their lunch. When they had both assured her they were content for the time being, she disappeared again and Hermann turned his attention back to Tendo.  
  
     "That's over 500 letters."  
  
     "624, sent and received, to be exact. I still have all the ones he sent me." Hermann said, looking down at his plate of fish and chips. Tendo hummed in response and dug into his own burger and fries. The two of them ate their meal in companionable silence before settling the check and heading back to the university.  
  
     Tendo walked Hermann back to his office and, as Hermann was unlocking the door, asked, "I'm dragging Newt out on Friday to celebrate my promotion, will you come as well?"  
  
     Hermann thought about it for a moment. On one hand, he'd get to see Newton again and confirm that he was the man Tendo thought he was. On the other, he could make a complete fool of himself. Sighing softly, Hermann looked back at Tendo and said, "Send me an e-mail with the time and place. I'll think about it."  
  
     "Thanks, man. I'm sure Newt'd like to see you again." Tendo said, smiling slightly and clapping Hermann on the shoulder before walking away.

 

     Newt groaned softly when Tendo walked into the shop Friday night. Glaring at his friend, he said, "C'mon, I told you that I'm not going out tonight."  
  
     "You promised that when my promotion came in, you'd celebrate with me." Tendo said, leaning against the welcome counter.  
  
     "That was before I found out who your neighbor was." Newt said, shooting Tendo another glare before packing up his gun and cleaning his station.  
  
     "Who's his neighbor?" Raleigh asked, walking out from the back of the shop with Mako and Chuck.  
  
     "The love of his life apparently." Tendo said, smirking when Newt squawked at him.  
  
     "Oh, the math guy?" Raleigh said, smirking and ruffling Newt's hair. "I thought you'd be excited about that."  
  
     "I made an ass out of myself, so no. I'm not excited." Newt said, running a hand through his hair and adjusting his glasses.  
  
     "How did you manage that?" Chuck asked, raising an eyebrow and leaning on the counter opposite Tendo.  
  
     "He crawled through his window thinking it was mine. Ended up crashing on his couch." Tendo said, smirking as Newt flipped him off.  
  
     "I wondered where you'd gone to." Mako said, shaking her head and smiling slightly as Raleigh and Chuck laughed.  
  
     "Yeah yeah, laugh at Newt's humiliating re-acquaintance to the one person he's ever had legit feelings for." Newt muttered, packing away his things and slinging his messenger's bag over his shoulder. Looking over at Tendo, he said, "If you're going to drag me out, let's just go." Tendo nodded and lead Newt out to his car; leaving behind a concerned looking Mako and the still laughing Chuck and Raleigh.  
  
     Tendo glanced over at Newt and said, "We don't have to go out if you're really not feeling up to it, Newt."  
  
     "It's fine. Raleigh and Chuck are just assholes sometimes. Pretty sure Mako's the only one at the shop who doesn't think I'm a freak."  
  
     "On the bright side, Hermann doesn't think you're a freak."  
  
     "You talked to Hermann?"  
  
     "Dude, we work together, of course I talked to Hermann."  
  
     Newt groaned and rested his head against the window. Looking out at the city as it passed, he said, "Do I even want to know what he said about me?"  
  
     "He wasn't surprised that that was the way you two met after so many years. I get the feeling he kinda figured you two couldn't do anything the normal way."  
  
     Snorting, Newt smiled slightly and said, "He's got that right."  
  
     "You going to ask about his leg?"  
  
     "I'm not going to ask you about it if that's what you're asking. If he wants me to know then he will tell me in his own time." Newton said, looking back over at Tendo.  
  
     "Ok." Tendo said, pulling into the pub's parking lot.  
  
     " _Der Grüne Drache_. Really, Tendo?"  
  
     "They've got good import on tap and their food isn't half bad." Tendo said, shrugging.  
  
     "I swear, if it's Lord of the Rings themed, I'm going to kick you." Newt said, rolling his eyes and climbing out of the car.  
  
     "Not that I've noticed." Tendo said, shutting off the car and leading Newt inside. They settled into a corner booth and Newt looked around curiously.  
  
     "Alison joining us?" He asked, turning his attention back to his friend.  
  
     "Yeah, she's catching a ride with a friend who's supposed to be joining us." Tendo said, glancing up at Newt.  
  
     "Should I have shaved?" Newt joked, rubbing the stubble on his face and smirking at Tendo.  
  
      Chuckling softly, Tendo shook his head and said, "Nah, I'm just glad you're wearing a clean shirt. You might want to undo the top button or two though."  
  
     Newt rolled his eyes but did as Tendo suggested before re-rolling his sleeves back up to expose his forearms. He looked around the pub again and smiled when he spotted Alison walking in. He waved to catch her attention and chuckled when she shot him a relieved look and made a beeline over to them. Raising an eyebrow at her concerned expression, he looked over at Tendo and shot him a _what the hell_  look.  
Alison stood next to their table and said something in Mandarin that Newt didn't understand but made Tendo roll his eyes and get up. He motioned for her to slide into the booth before he headed out of the pub. Alison sighed softly and slid into the booth across from Newt and, shooting him a warm smile, said, "Hey, Newt."  
  
     "Everything ok?" Newt asked, glancing between Alison and the door.  
  
     "Yeah, no, maybe. Tendo'll work it out. You look nice." She responded, none too subtly shifting the conversation.  
  
     "Thanks. Tendo warned me he'd be dragging me out tonight. Though I doubt I'm going to do much drinking." Newt said, chuckling softly.  
  
     "Tendo told me about last week's incident." Alison said, smiling slightly.  
  
     "Ugh, I'm honestly really glad you were at a conference last week." Newt said, rubbing his face again and glancing towards the door.

 

     Hermann sat in the driver's seat of his Buick Encore and stared up at the pub sign; contemplating if he should follow Alison in or just drive away. He fiddled with the head of his cane and sighed when he saw Tendo come out. Hitting the unlock button, he watched as Tendo opened the door and slid into the passenger's seat.  
  
     "I'm not going to blame you if you don't want to come in, Hermann." Tendo said, looking over at him.  
  
     "It's infantile to stay out here when I've already agreed to join you, Alison, and Newton inside for your celebration dinner." Hermann murmured, not looking at Tendo.  
  
     "It's normal to be hesitant about seeing someone whom you know you fell in love with through a penpal program."  
  
     Hermann shut his eyes and, sighing softly, pinched the bridge of his nose. After a moment, he admitted, "I don't want to disappoint him."  
  
     "Did you ever think that he's scared of the same thing? You've both changed over the past ten years; him more so than you."  
  
     "Nothing he could do would disappoint me." Hermann said, frowning and looking over at Tendo.  
  
     "Other than climbing through your window while blasted out of his mind."  
  
     "Not even that." Hermann said, sighing softly before resting his head against his headrest and staring up at the ceiling of his vehicle. "Admittedly, it was a bit of a shock and a tad annoying but after finding out who he was...I was only disappointed that I didn't think to ask his name after waking him up."  
  
     "You have got it bad, my friend."  
  
     "That tends to come with the territory when one is demisexual and they happen to finally find someone who makes them want." Hermann said, shaking his head and pulling the keys from the ignition.  
  
     "Alright. Let me take a look at you." Tendo said, sliding out of the vehicle and straightening his bowtie. He waited for Hermann to slide out, shut the door, and come around to his side before he took in how his friend was dressed. Frowning, he said, "At least you decided to go with pants that actually fit today."  
  
     Hermann rolled his eyes and fought the urge to flip Tendo off as the other man surveyed his attire. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Am I presentable?"  
  
     "The waistcoat is nice, did Alison make you wear it?" Tendo asked, walking up to him and undoing the first two buttons of his shirt before rolling up his sleeves.  
  
     "Yes. Obviously." Hermann said, rolling his eyes again before redoing one of the buttons that Tendo had undone.  
  
     "You're good." Tendo said, smiling and clapping a hand on Hermann's shoulder. Sighing softly, Hermann followed Tendo inside and towards their table. He spotted Alison and Newt in a corner booth, talking animatedly about something. He smiled slightly as Newt's hand motions got more and more erratic as he spoke. As they approached the table, Tendo cleared his throat and said, "Look who decided to actually join us."  
  
     Looking up from their conversation, Alison grinned and said, "I'm glad you decided to join us, Hermann."  
  
     "Your husband can be quite convincing when needed." Hermann muttered, watching Newt for a reaction out of the corner of his eye. The other man swallowed and grinned nervously at him before shifting over to allow Hermann to sit. As Hermann eased himself down into the booth next to him, he shot Newt a small, shy smile.  
  
     Chuckling, Tendo slid into the booth next to his wife and said, "You didn't actually take much convincing."  
  
     "Appearances." Hermann said, smiling slightly and turning his attention to the menu in front of him.  
  
     "Any of the imports look good?" Tendo asked, looking between Hermann and Newt.  
  
     "Depends on your taste profile." Newt said, shrugging a shoulder. Looking up at Tendo, he said, "Personally, I'm going to go for the Einbecker Ur-Bock Dunkel."  
  
     "What about you, Hermann?"  
  
     "They've got Weihenstephaner Korbinian so I have to go with that. At least before I switch over to water. I am driving after all." Hermann said, not looking up.  
  
     "Of course you two go for the German beers." Alison said, smirking slightly.  
  
     "And you're likely going for Guinness." Newt teased, raising an eyebrow.  
  
     "I would, if I were drinking tonight, simply because I like to stick with what beers I know that I enjoy." Alison retorted, looking back down at the menu. Newt merely chuckled and looked back down at his menu with a small smile.  
  
     "How's Mako doing at the shop?" Tendo asked, setting aside his menu.  
  
     "She's doing well. Didn't fuck up Chuck's touch up, which is good. I think he may have cried if she had." Newton said, chuckling softly.  
  
     "Ever think about getting a tattoo, Hermann?" Alison asked, looking over at him curiously.  
  
     "Oh...I uh....already have one." Hermann admitted, flushing slightly as he looked up at Alison and he could feel Tendo and Newton staring at him in shock.  
  
     "Wait, what?! You never told me that you had a tat!" Tendo cried, pointing an accusing finger at Hermann.  
  
     "It's not something that I share frequently considering I got it when I was stoned." Hermann said, glancing at Tendo with a frown.  
  
     "When did you get it?" Alison asked, looking at Hermann curiously.  
  
     "About five years ago."  
  
     "What's it of?" Tendo asked, looking at Hermann expectantly.  
  
     "It's a drawing done by an old friend." Hermann said, pointedly not looking over at Newt even though he felt the other man's eyes burning a hole into the side of his head.  
  
     "That tells us nothing, Hermann." Alison chastised gently, smiling at him.  
  
     Sighing softly, Hermann said, "It...it combined the golden ration, two roses, coral and lavender, and a...." Hermann chuckled softly and, covering his eyes, said, "And the skull of a kaiju. It was the original Godzilla if I remember correctly."  
  
     "Oh I so have to see this." Alison said, leaning forward slightly.  
  
     "It's not in a place that I show off, Alison." Hermann said, letting his hand fall away from his face and leaning back into the booth.  
  
     "Oh? Where is it?" Tendo asked, cocking his head to the side curiously.  
  
     "Over my bad hip and leg." Hermann said softly, smiling kindly at Alison when she nodded and shifted back in her seat.

 

     Newt kept staring at Hermann with a gob smacked expression as Tendo hummed softly and, after checking that everyone knew what they wanted, flagged down a waitress. Once their orders were placed, the table fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence. Alison and Tendo where sharing knowing looks while Hermann was pointedly avoided looking at Newt. It wasn't like he could help it. The man had just admitted to getting a drawing that Newt had put in one of their letters tattooed onto his body.  
  
     Sighing softly, Tendo turned to Newt and asked, "Got any plans for any more tats, Newt?"  
  
     Tearing his gaze away from Hermann's profile, Newt turned his attention back to Tendo and said, "Not currently. I need to get a couple re-touched though, they're starting to fade a little." Smiling slightly and leaning back into the booth, he allowed his hands to slip off the table and rest in his lap before he added, "An article I wrote is getting published though. I mean, it's not in an academic journal but _Skin & Ink_ isn't bad."  
  
     "Oh? What's the article about?" Alison asked, looking at Newt curiously.  
  
     "The need for a breakdown of what's in the ink that we're buying and the possibility for a safer ink than the ones we're using now. It's all theoretics right now but it'll at least get a theory out there for the people with labs and grant money to take a look at." Newt said, smiling slightly.  
  
     "Still finding a way to use those doctorates, I see." Tendo said, smirking slightly.  
  
     "Dude, I have six, I have to find a way to use them somehow." Newton said, rolling his eyes.  
  
     "And volunteering to tutor at the local high school just isn't cutting it anymore?" Alison asked, raising an eyebrow at Newt.  
  
     "I still do that but it's not the same. I'm too over-qualified to be a high school teacher and I would teach at the community college but I've been out of academia for too long not to mention the fact that the pressure to continuously publish while also teaching is ridiculous and part of the reason I left in the first place." Newt said, shrugging and fiddling with the ring on his thumb.  
  
     "There is a position open for a physics lab assistant that you could apply for, if you wished to. They only meet twice a week in the evening and there's no publishing requirement." Hermann said, glancing over at Newt.  
  
     "What kind of physics?" Newt asked, looking over at Hermann with a small smile.  
  
     "Newtonian, I believe." Hermann replied, turning his full attention to Newton with a small smile.  
  
     Newt looked at him for a moment before chuckling softly and shaking his head fondly. Nudging Hermann's side gently, he said, "I'll look into it, Herms. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal." After a beat of silence, he asked, "You're still a professor right?"  
  
     Smiling slightly, Hermann nodded and said, "I teach various courses in different departments and oversee graduate students completing their masters and doctoral theses in the mathematics department."  
  
     "You always were better at handling the stress of academia than I was." Newt mused, glancing up when the waitress came back with their orders. The four of them lapsed into a comfortable silence as they ate.  
  
      Once their plates were cleared away and their drinks refilled, Newt settled contentedly into the booth and only let his eyes flicker briefly to Hermann when he rested his arm on the back of the booth behind his head. It was hard to not just stare at the other man but his father had instilled some sense of propriety in him while growing up. They fell into easy conversation about the new monster movie that was coming out in a few months’ time that seemed as though it would be a good mixture of action and story-telling. Needless to say, Newt was more interested in the Kaiju side of the movie rather than the humanity while Hermann was invested in the mathematics element and the possibilities for advancement. Tendo and Alison watched with barely concealed amusement as Newt and Hermann bickered about the importance of the human element to monster movies.

 

     "Yes but there are millions of movies about humans and how they deal with the apocalypse and a post-apocalyptic world. There are next to no movies focusing solely on the so called monsters that aren't the typical werewolves, vampires, or zombies!" Newt said, twisting in his seat to look at Hermann as his voice jumped an octave.  
  
     Rolling his eyes and fighting back an amused smile at Newt's enthusiasm, Hermann twisted his torso slightly to get a better look at Newt and said, "Because there isn't a market for it-"  
  
     "-of course there's a market for it. I'm not the only person who is borderline obsessed with kaiju and other movie monsters like them-" Newt interrupted only for Hermann to cut him off.  
  
     "Only borderline? Your tattoos beg to differ, darling." Hermann quipped raising an eyebrow.  
  
     Newt gently swatted Hermann's chest with the back of his hand and let it fall to rest on his thigh before he continued, "Not the point, babe, and as I was saying. There are entire forums dedicated to dissecting the creatures and the possibilities for real-life ones that are hidden within the depths of the oceans or in the expanse of space."  
  
     "And yet none are being made. People are focusing on watching shows and movies that give them hope not that toss them into pits of despair. The general populace wants to watch a movie where the good guys win and the bad guys lose because the media being made is an escape for them." Hermann said, glancing down at Newt's hand as his thumb swiped across his thigh and blushing slightly.  
  
     "That's because Hollywood doesn't like to branch out! Don't even get me started on the complete lack of representation in media." Newt said, scowling and taking a sip of his beer.  
  
     "I won't argue with you there." Hermann murmured, taking a sip of his water.  
  
     "You two are adorable." Alison said, looking between Hermann and Newt with a grin.  
  
     Hermann merely raised an eyebrow at her as Newt blushed and sputtered something about outgrowing adorable around thirty years ago. As Alison and Newt start to bicker over the age limit on being considered adorable, Hermann looks down at Newton's hand; which has resettled on the inside of his thigh with Newton's thumb occasionally swiping back and forth. He knows he should move Newton's hand off of his thigh but, for the life of him, he can't make himself do it. Looking up, he found Tendo watching him with a small smile. Blushing lightly, Hermann looked out at the pub and he took a sip of water.  
  
    They stayed in their booth for another hour, just talking and bickering playfully with each other. When Alison had to stifle a yawn, Tendo suggested that they settle the bill and head home. Hermann flagged down their waitress and, when the bill came, snatched it from Tendo before the other man could pick it up. A warning look was all it took for the other man to shut his mouth after opening it to argue. Newt tried to pay his portion but settled for leaving the tip when Hermann told him that he could pick up the bill next time they went out.

 

     Opening the passenger's side of Tendo's car, Newt leaned in and grabbed his messenger bag before stepping back and letting Tendo slip into the passenger's seat. Grinning, he clapped Tendo on the shoulder and said, "Congrats on the promotion, man."  
  
     "Thanks, congrats on finding the good doctor over there." Tendo said, winking and smirking knowingly.  
  
     "It's probably not going anywhere, Tendo." Newt muttered, shaking his head and stepping away from the door so that Tendo could shut it.  
  
     "You don't know that. I'll see you around, ok?" Tendo said, leaning out of his window as Alison started the car.  
  
     "Yeah, see ya around." Newt said, adjusting the strap on his messenger bag as Alison backed the car out of the lot. Newt watched them drive off and, when they were out of sight, sighed softly and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He didn't realize that Hermann had come up behind him until he felt the other man lay a hand between his shoulder blades. Looking over at Hermann, he smiled slightly and said, "You heading out too?"  
  
     Hermann nodded and, looking around the parking lot, asked, "Do you need a ride?"  
  
     "I can just call a cab. I'm on the opposite side of town as you." Newt said, shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously.  
  
     "I wouldn't mind driving you, Newton." Hermann said, looking back over at him with a small smile that made something in Newt's chest twist painfully.  
  
     "You sure, man?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck and looking up at Hermann.  
  
     Smiling fondly, Hermann nodded and replied, "I would not have offered otherwise."  
  
     "Alright." Newt said, nodding slightly and motioning for Hermann to lead the way to his car. When the other man turned, Newt let out a breath and scrubbed at his eyes under his glasses. This meeting was going far better than their last one but he still felt jittery; like he'd guzzled down far too many espressos. Hopping up into the passenger's seat, Newton watched as Hermann carefully slid himself into the driver's seat and, after closing the door, settled his cane between his leg and the door. Frowning, he asked, "Is having a car this high good for your leg? I mean, it's got to hurt climbing into it."  
  
     Glancing over at Newt with a raised eyebrow, Hermann said, "It's far better for my leg than trying to pull myself up from a low-sitting one every time I get out."  
  
     "Ah. Ok. No offense, I just...didn't know." Newt said, shifting to take off his messenger bag and looking away from Hermann.  
  
     "None taken, Newton. There's no way you could have known." Hermann said softly as he buckled himself in.  
  
     Looking out the window, Newton buckled himself in and chewed on his bottom lip while wondering if, now that Tendo and Alison weren't there, he would manage to piss Hermann off to the point of no longer wanting to be around him. In an attempt to avoid this, he barely spoke outside of giving Hermann the directions to his apartment complex. Keeping his eyes trained on either the road in front of them or on his hands, Newt missed the curious looks Hermann shot him every time he failed to engage him in conversation.

 

     Hermann pulled into the parking lot of Newton's apartment complex and parked as close to Newt's building as possible. After shutting off the engine, Hermann turned to look at Newt and asked, "Have I done something to upset you?"  
  
     "What?!" Newt squawked, twisting in his seat to stare at Hermann with wide eyes. When Hermann merely raised an eyebrow at him, Newt continued, "Dude, what? No. God, no, you haven't. Why would you think that you had?"  
  
     Sighing softly, Hermann looked back at the steering wheel and said, "You have been near silent this entire ride despite my attempts to engage you in conversation and, though I'm aware that we have not spent much time together in person, I somehow know that this is abnormal for you."  
  
     "I'm not mad. I never was mad. I was trying to make sure I didn't stick my foot in my mouth and drive you away for another decade."  
  
     "You never drove me away, Newton!" Hermann snapped, turning his gaze back to Newton.  
  
     Newton shot him a doubtful look and, with a self-deprecating chuckle, said, "Pretty sure I've already done it once, Herms." Hermann scowled and tried to reign in the anger welling in his gut. It wasn't Newton's fault that he didn't know why Hermann hadn't shown and it seemed perfectly logical, when viewed from Newton's side, to assume that it was because of something he had done. Taking a deep breath, Hermann shut his eyes and mentally counted to ten before opening them again. Newton was picking at the fraying edge of the strap of his messenger bag and had let his shoulders slump slightly; giving him an even smaller appearance than he normally had. After he unbuckled himself, Hermann reached over and grasped Newton's chin between his thumb and his forefinger; forcing the other man's head up so that he could look him in the eyes.  
  
     When he saw Newton's gaze follow, he said, "Listen well because I will likely only say this once. You were not the reason I did not make it to Stockholm. I was not angry with you. I was not in any way upset with you. In fact, I was quite looking forward to finally meeting you and spending the weekend with you."  
  
     Hermann's grip on Newton's chin tightened slightly when the other man snorted softly and shot him another doubtful look. Scowling, Hermann continued, "On my way to the airport a drunk driver barreled through a red-light and broadsided the car I was in. He was going so fast that it caused the car to spin around several times before wrapping itself around a pole."  
  
     Pausing, Hermann let his hand drop away and rest on the center console. Leaning back in his seat with a soft sigh, he shut his eyes and said, "Of course, you had no way of knowing this at the time. Nor did you have any way of knowing that the last thing to cross my mind before passing out was the thought of you waiting for me at that damn conference knowing that I'd never get the chance to tell you that I love you."

 

     Newt stared at Hermann, trying to process what he'd just heard as his thoughts raced and jumped from topic to topic. _Hermann loves me back? Loved me back? Which is it? Does it matter? Not really but- Wait, fuck, I've spent all these years thinking it was my fault when it was some drunk asshole. Oh Jesus shit, that's how his leg and hip got fucked up. Damnit, Hermann, baby, no. I wasn't there for you. Shit, I should say something. I should say something instead of just sitting here staring at him like an idiot._  
  
     After a few beats of silence, Hermann opened his eyes and stared blankly at the steering wheel. Clearing his throat, he said, "It's ok if...if you don't...feel that way about-"  
  
     "I love you, Hermann. I'm pretty sure I've always loved you." Newt blurted out before clapping a hand over his mouth. He hadn't meant to let that come out.  
  
     Hermann turned his head to look at him and Newt hated that shocked look because he knew it meant that Hermann had never expected him to love him back. He watched as Hermann swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly. Blinking, he asked, "You...you still..."  
  
     Letting his hand drop away from his mouth, Newt nodded frantically and said, "God, yes. I've been fucking pining after you for ten years. I tried looking for you but it was like you and your family had fallen off the face of the Earth and after three years I just...I gave up and I hate myself for it because I felt like I was letting our friendship die and fade but _I couldn't find you and it was slowly killing me_. I know that you probably didn't expect me to be a fucking tattoo artist but a lot of shit went down after Stockholm and...and I just...I had to leave academia. I couldn't do it anymore. But now you're here and you're so much more than I could have hoped and I'm just an ex-professor who ran away from academia and I'm not good en-"  
  
     Hermann cut Newt off by leaning over the center console and pulling him into a bruising kiss by the front of his shirt. Newt flailed for a moment, wondering how on Earth Hermann had been able to pull that off without their teeth clacking or their noses smashing into each other when his eyes had been shut, before he was able to mentally switch gears and kiss Hermann back. Letting his eyes slip shut, he savored the feel of Hermann's think, chapped lips against his own and reached up to rake his fingers through Hermann's short hair. The kiss didn't last long and Newt heard himself whine softly when Hermann backed off just enough to rest their foreheads together. Opening his eyes, he saw Hermann looking at him with a fierce expression.  
  
     "Newton Jochim Geizler, you have always been, and always will be, good enough for me. Sometimes, I wonder if you're too good. That being said, I do not care if you are a professor, a tattooist, or a damn rentboy. All I care about in regards to your career is if you are happy doing what you are doing." Hermann said softly, barely above a whisper, but with so much passion that Newt felt a little weak knowing that Hermann felt this strongly about him.  
  
     "Hey, who said we could pull the middle name into this, Hermann Wilhelm Gottlieb?" Newt joked, smiling shakily and bumping their noses together softly. He grinned when Hermann merely rolled his eyes and huffed softly.  
  
     "I decided that it was an appropriate time because you were being thick." Hermann said, gently nudging Newt's forehead with his own.  
  
     "Hmm, I am rather thick sometimes." Newt conceded, closing his eyes with a soft, contented sigh. He smiled when he felt Hermann's hand finally unclench his shirt and smooth it out against his chest.  
  
     "I wouldn't have you any other way than what you are, Newt." Hermann admitted, as softly as a prayer in church.  
  
     "Come in with me." Newt said, not quite a demand but not a question either. When Hermann pulled away and shot him a wary look, he rolled his eyes and said, "Not to...not to have sex, man. Just...I don't want to spend the night alone. Not when I know the guy I've been pining after for the last decade actually loves me."  
  
     Hermann seemed to think about it for a moment before he nodded and said, "That would be amenable."  
  
     After unbuckling himself and grabbing his bag, Newt opened his door and hopped onto the pavement with a thousand watt grin plastered onto his face. Shutting the door, he waited for Hermann to join him by his side before he led the way to his building. He was suddenly grateful that he'd managed to get a ground floor apartment instead of having one of the second floor ones. Sliding his key into the lock, he paused and looked back at Hermann. When the other man raised an eyebrow, he asked, "Before we go in, can I ask something? Well a couple somethings actually."  
  
     "What would you like to know?" Hermann asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
     "One, does this mean we're boyfriends and two, am I going to be able to see your tattoo sometime soon?" Newt asked, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.  
  
     Blushing, Hermann smiled fondly at him and replied, "I despise that term but yes, I would like for us to pursue a romantic relationship. As for your second question, you will see it eventually; of that, I am sure."  
  
     Grinning dopily, Newt leaned up and pecked Hermann on the lips before turning around and unlocking his front door. He wasn't sure how this was going to go but now that he was certain that Hermann wanted a romantic relationship, he was certain that he'd be able to handle whatever happened.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations (Thanks Tinomele for the help with three and four!)
> 
> 1\. Verdammte Scheiße, du Arschloch: Fucking hell, you asshole.  
> 2\. Verpiss dich. Ich hasse dich: Piss off. I hate you.  
> 3\. Herr Choi versteht kein Deutsch also ist es nutzlos ihn zu beschimpfen: Mr. Choi does not understand German so cursing at him is useless.  
> 4\. Es hilft mir mich besser zu fühlen: It makes me feel better.


End file.
